Rutgers AD Pat Hobbs during a ceremony as Rutgers rang the Old Queens bell Wednesday in New Brunswick to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first college football game - played near where the College Ave. Gymnasium sits today - between Rutgers and Princeton.James Kratch | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

The Scarlet Knights athletics director declined to discuss his football coaching search when approached by an NJ Advance Media reporter Wednesday following two on-campus ceremonies to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the first college football game between Rutgers and Princeton in New Brunswick, and he did not make himself available to the media before he participated in an anniversary-themed event taped by BTN at the city’s Performing Arts center.

“You need great leadership, which is why I have so much admiration for what coach Schiano accomplished during that time,” Hobbs said. "You look at what he was able to do with very little by the way of resources. So that’s one of the things I am trying to do now, bring those resources so we can win at the Big Ten level. The Big Ten East is Everest. Every year you go up against some powerful programs, and then in your crossover games you play Wisconsin and Nebraska. When you think about the Big Ten, there are no days off in the Big Ten.

"One of the things I do every time we go to visit a campus, if I have some of our alumni with us, we try to visit those facilities and see those facilities, see what we’re up against. I always see the jaws drop, and that’s why I have focused very much on facilities since I got here. … You’ve got to invest in facilities. You’ve got to give your coaches the resources they need in order to recruit.”

Hobbs also said it is important to have “a great coaching staff. You need a coaching staff that understands your state very well. New Jersey is a very unique state."

Schiano has emerged as Rutgers’ top candidate and all indications suggest he can get his old job back if he wants it. But Schiano has what one person with knowledge of his thinking called “significant” demands that must be satisfied for him to accept any offer from Brown and Hobbs. One of them is believed to be a new football-only facility that could house the entire program, not just the long-presumed indoor practice building to replace the bubble currently across the street from SHI Stadium in Piscataway.

Schiano’s wishes are not believed to be immediate deal-breakers, but they will be difficult for Rutgers to achieve given its standing as one of the nation’s most subsidized athletics departments while it waits to become a full-share member in Big Ten media rights revenue sharing. Hobbs also just completed the RWJBarnabas Health Athletics Performance Center on Livingston Campus and is in the process of constructing the Rodkin Center for Academic Success next to the football stadium, so it is unclear how much capital Rutgers could sink into a third facility that could have a price tag running into nine figures.

But Schiano’s vision may simply be the cost of business to compete in the Big Ten. After Hobbs reiterated his desire to play in a Rose Bowl during the event and predicted Rutgers will win Big Ten titles in the next 25 years, he may be on board as well.

Get Rutgers Sports Insider text messages from reporters: Cut through the clutter of social media and communicate directly with the Rutgers beat writers. Plus, exclusive news and analysis every day. Sign up now.